Janel Parrish
Janel Long known professionally as Janel Parrish is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and pianist. She is best known for her regular role as Mona Vanderwaal on the Freeform original series, Pretty Little Liars. She is also the main character on its spin-off, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. She also placed third overall in the nineteenth season of Dancing with the Stars in 2014. She is also known for playing Jade in the 2007 film, Bratz: The Movie. Life and Career She got her start as a professional entertainer when she was cast as Young Cosette in the National Touring Company of Les Miserables, and later portrayed the same character in the Broadway production as well; the role showcased both her acting and singing abilities. She subsequently appeared in several community theater productions in Hawaii—most notably as "Scout" in Manoa Valley Theatre's revival of To Kill A Mocking Bird in 1998. Parrish got her first off-stage acting job as a minor role in 1999's four-part miniseries Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke. Shortly after, she appeared in two episodes of Baywatch as a young girl named Hina. In 2000, she was featured in Disney's made-for-TV live-action incarnation of the Pinocchio story entitled Geppetto. She then went on to appear as the character Vanessa in the short-lived sitcom The O'Keefes, as well as appearing in many Disney shows and made-for-TV movies on the Disney channel. Along with appearances on The Bernie Mac Show, Zoey 101 and The O.C.. One of her recent acting roles has been the theatrical Bratz motion picture, as one of the main characters, Jade. It is her first role in a theatrical motion picture as well as her first starring role. She also landed a recurring role in the hit NBC series Heroes. Parrish began playing piano at age six. At age 14, on January 3, 2003, she appeared on the 2003 remake of Star Search, performing the song "On My Own". In 2007, Parrish was signed to Geffen Records to produce her first album. Her first single, "Rainy Day", one that she has written, along with its music video, was released on July 7, 2007, and was also featured on the Bratz Motion Picture Soundtrack. She also makes a brief appearance in Prima J''s "Rockstar" music video, which is also on the soundtrack. She also made an appearance in NLT's "She Said, I Said" music video. She provided background vocals for the song. Parrish was cast in a recurring as Mona Vanderwaal in the hit ABC Family TV series ''Pretty Little Liars based on the book series by Sara Shepard. She originally auditioned for of Spencer Hastings before being offered the role of Mona. In March 2012, Parrish was promoted to series regular from the third season onward. Parrish returned to her theater stage roots in Over the Moon Productions' intimate presentation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening as Anna, and understudying for Lindsay Pearce, former contestant of The Glee Project, as Wendla. In 2014, she became a contestant on the nineteenth season of Dancing With the Stars, partnered with professional Val Chmerkovskiy. She made it into the finals and placed third overall. She also starred in the TV movie High School Possession as Lauren Brady. In 2017, it was announced that Janel would reprise her role as Mona Vanderwaal in the Pretty Little Liars spin-off, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. She would serve as the main character, instead of a series regular. She announced her engagement to her longtime boyfriend, Chris Long, on October 23, 2017. They found and booked their wedding venue on January 29, 2018.https://www.instagram.com/p/BejMDUNA_C3/?taken-by=janelparrish She announced that she had found her wedding dress on February 3, 2018, from Panache Bridal in Beverly Hills.https://www.instagram.com/p/Bewc_bkgZ-Z/?taken-by=janelparrish The pair had their engagement party on February 12, 2018.https://www.instagram.com/p/BfFq_TdgUh6/?taken-by=janelparrish She married Chris Long on August 9th, 2018 in a small ceremony in Hawaii. In attendance were fellow PLL cast and crew, Brendan Robinson and I. Marlene King. Filmography Film Television Awards Quotes Trivia * Mona is Janel's favorite character that she has ever played. * She loves to sing and considers music her true passion. * She like Starbucks and her favorite drink is a caramel macchiato. * She plays the piano. * As of April 2017, Janel has twenty-four known tattoos. * She enjoys the Twilight movies and considers herself a TwiHard. * She is afraid of sharks and won't surf because of this fear. * Her favorite city in the world is New York City. * Given the chance to be an Avenger, Janel would choose Black Widow. * Her parents are former body-builders, which has helped her stay in shape and exercise. * She missed her original flight for her audition because her passport had expired, so she had to reschedule her audition. * She originally auditioned for the role of Spencer Hastings but didn't book the role. A few months later, she was called in to read for the role of Mona and fell in love with the role. * She found out that Mona was Uber A, a week before filming started. * She, along with the rest of the PLL main cast, got tattoos on their pointer finger with their characters first initial. * Janel was the first cast member to find out about The Perfectionists spin-off. * Janel is of Han Chinese descent. * She has one sister, Melissa Nohelani, who is eight years older and served in the U.S. Army. * Janel has watched a lot of Romantic Comedy's and has seen many of the cult classics. * Her favorite Rom-Com is When Harry Met Sally. * Janel can't beatbox and has never been able to. * She had a hard time getting into the television and movie industry because of her race and the lack of diversity in roles. * She has never been involved in a love triangle and believes that they are too complicated to get involved in. * Janel played Sandy in the Broadway musical, "Grease". * During filming for To All The Boys I've Loved Before she channeled her relationship with her own older sister with her role of Margot. She views her older sister as her own Margot, and their relationship is very similar to that of Margot and Lara's. * She got married in September of 2018. * When asked how long she would play Mona for, she said that as long as the writers kept writing episodes with Mona in them she'd be there. * She broke one of her ribs when she was in "Dancing With the Stars". * Janel has a scar beside her elbow from where she burned herself with a curling iron. * Her favorite childhood toys were Barbies. Gallery Awjanel (1).jpg Awjanel (2).jpg Awjanel (3).jpg Awjanel (4).jpg Awjanel (5).jpg Janel+Parrish+DoSomething+org+VH1+2013+Something+OSlGgAm IsPl.jpg Janel-Parrish-Photo-By-Mark-Hussman-195x300.jpg Janel-Parrish-brave-premiere.jpg Janel-parrish-do-something-awards-2013-01.jpg Janel.jpg Janel548.jpg JanelParrish.jpg Janel 2.jpg Janel 33.jpg Janel Parrish 1.jpg Janel Parrish 2.jpg Janel Parrish 3.jpg Janel Parrish 4.jpg Janel TCAs13.jpg Janelparrish1.png Jnel8451.jpg Mona-Pretty-Little-Liars-1x02.jpg Monajanel44.png Normal jpw 2013DoSomethingArrivals 007.jpg Red f.jpg tumblr_mlc9b5VrSP1ryfjs3o2_r1_500.png JANEL.png JANEL1.png JANEL10.png JANEL11.png JANEL12.png JANEL13.png JANEL14.png JANEL15.png JANEL16.png JANEL17.png JANEL18.png JANEL19.png JANEL2.png JANEL20.png JANEL21.png JANEL22.png JANEL3.png JANEL4.png JANEL5.png JANEL6.png JANEL8.png JANEL7.png JANEL9.png parish.png Ian+Harding+Paley+Center+Media+PaleyFest+2014+DPpzQ19GowMl.jpg janel-parrish-at-pretty-little-liars-panel-at-paley-fest_1.jpg Screen shot 2014-05-17 at 6.30.10 PM.png 924381 684219001645654 885601721 n.jpg 10413075_680931248628363_1654850787_n.jpg Branel2.jpg janel-parrish-promoshoot-dancing-with-the-stars-season-19_1.jpg janel-parrish-1024.jpg janel-parrish-dancing-with-the-stars-first-week.jpg dancing-with-the-stars-janel-parrishjpg-399ccd571a961abc.jpg 10959046_1020164414678179_11507491_n.jpg 11055545_1549005978702772_1494569200_n.jpg 11055831_1632840683606099_1338618092_n.jpg 11111551 1576016899348985 1736522176 n.jpg BrantandjanelDWTS.jpg Janeland CodyPLL.jpg Janeland CodyPLL01.jpg IMG 20150912 132755.jpg janel817.png janel615.png janel314.png janel819.png janel123.png janel146.png janel198.png janel617.png Screenshot-2014-10-23-at-11.29.30-AM-543x450.png Screenshot-2014-10-17-at-8.51.44-AM.png CSml3FFUkAEfSOT.jpg CSlhQ0pU8AEycCQ.jpg Janell n Ashley.jpg Janel PLL S7.jpg 2016-08-19 0838.png Mhgfdfj.png Huytretrytuuioip.png Gygyhu7ytr76riop.png Gyuggfyf6ft6.png Dsfaewrgvergearf.png Janel Parrish 2017.png Janel_TCA_Portrait1.jpg Janel_TCA_Portrait2.jpg Janel_TCA_Portrait3.jpg Janel_TCA1.jpg Janel_Golf_Cart2.png Capture+ 2019-02-03-14-05-09~2.png Janel Parrish TCA-2019 Portrait4.PNG Janel_Parrish_TCA-2019.PNG Janel_Parrish_TCA-2019_Portrait2.PNG Janel_Parrish_TCA-2019_Portrait3.PNG Janel_Parrish_TCA-2019-4.PNG Janel_Parrish_TCA-2019_Portrait4.jpg PLL-TP_TCA_2019_Cast1.jpg PLL-TP_TCA_2019_Cast2.jpg Capture+ 2019-02-05-14-55-28.png Capture+ 2019-02-05-14-55-22~2.png POP-Sugar_Janel1.jpg POP-Sugar_Janel2.jpg POP-Sugar_Janel3.jpg POP-Sugar_Janel4.jpg POP-Sugar_Janel5.jpg POP-Sugar_PLL-TP_Cast.jpg POP-Sugar_PLL-TP_Cast2.jpg Janel46.jpg Janel47.jpg Capture+ 2019-03-15-22-08-20~2.png Capture+ 2019-03-19-23-13-51~2.png|Mona Then/Now Ad Emmy_Mag7.jpg Emmy_Mag8.jpg Emmy_Mag2.jpg Emmy_Mag-Janel.jpg Emmy_Mag-Janel2.jpg Emmy_Mag11.jpg References Category:Pretty Little Liars Cast Category:Actress Category:Females Category:Season 1 Category:Season 2 Category:Season 3 Category:Season 4 Category:Season 5 Category:Season 6 Category:Series Regulars Category:Season 7 Category:The Perfectionists Cast Category:Season 1 (The Perfectionists)